cruisin wrote:
Well, ya know, the Admiral says hi back, and wants me to tell you
she's not leaving here until we have an autopilot!
Not to mention an engine that works, but you can see her priorities.

An engine would be nice. Do you have a genset? A good autopilot makes
a lot of difference, sounds like your Admiral has her priorities
pretty straight.


What a complicated mess this boat really is. The wonderful Hydrovane
self-steering rig I spent too many boat units getting and installing
never really worked yet.

How much wind & what points of sail have you tried it in? Wind vane
self-steerers can be tough to get dialed in and some will simply not
generate enough force on the helm to hold on some points of sail.



The "bulletproof" Robertson autopilot uses
too many amps when sailing (it's either that or the fridge, and I like
cold beer) plus broke during the crossing, so we've been steering this
tub by hand for 3000+ miles. The company is out of business, so
getting it fixed is problematical, plus it's kind of intermittant-
breaks during a passage, then days after you've arrived in port it
decides it wasn't really broken.

Both fridge & autpilot technology have made big improvements in the
last 10 years. Also you might consider just adding more insulation to
your fridge box. An easy and cheap upgrade that all fridges could
benefit from.



This is the real stuff you deal with while cruising, along with the
pink sunsets and drinks by the pool at some luxury hotel.

Yeah, I can see you got it rough! Well we are in a pretty nice place
right now, not a luxury resort though. And it will never get as
overdeveloped as Tahiti


Shoulda bought the Coronado with the purple upolstery and the cedar
bucket.


Nah, you had it good with your Ranger 23. Now if you'd sailed *that*
to Tahiti you'd be a legend!

Glad to hear that you all completed a safe passage and are having a
good time.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King